Graduation Date
Summer 2026
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Science degree with a major in Environmental Systems, option Energy, Technology, and Policy
Committee Chair Name
Peter Alstone
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Arne Jacobson
Second Committee Member Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Third Committee Member Name
Laurie Richmond
Third Committee Member Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Microgrid, Resilience, Climate, Electricity, Energy economics, Sovereignty, Decarbonization, Hoopa, Yurok
Subject Categories
Environmental Systems
Abstract
Community-scale microgrids can create a range of social benefits. These include resilient electricity, cleaner air, decarbonization, and economic development, alongside more qualitative values like energy sovereignty and community self-determination. Many such benefits, however, are illegible to California’s market and regulatory frameworks. This thesis traces this disconnect, with particular attention to grid-edge communities in Northern California.
Microgrid benefits are classified as monetized, modeled, or incommensurable according to their inclusion/exclusion in existing regulatory and revenue mechanisms. To explore each category, a mixed-methods analytic approach is employed, pairing Tribal and stakeholder interviews with the development of a microgrid valuation calculator. This tool is then applied to a hypothetical microgrid serving ~2,100 customers on “Hoopa 1101,” one of PG&E’s worst-performing circuits.
Model results indicate that while monetized 25-year lifetime project revenue (~$49M) does not cover total costs (~$190M), the microgrid produces significant co-benefits that are presently un- or under-valued. A subset of these externalities is modeled, with the microgrid demonstrating additional value by displacing ratepayer-funded diesel substation generators (~$61M), building resilience (~$69–540M), and avoided emissions (~$8M). The project also bolsters the regional economy, generating ~890 job-years and ~$99M of value added. Compared across perspectives (community, ratepayer, utility), potential ownership models, and alternative hardening pathways (e.g., undergrounding could cost ratepayers ~$1.1B to achieve similar levels of annual outage mitigation) a community microgrid has a strong case as the least-cost, best-fit grid investment. Furthermore, incommensurable benefits that defy quantification create additional layers of social value.
An institutional analysis considers related dimensions of California’s energy landscape, with special attention to how policies incentivize and constrain utility behavior, building towards the conclusion that California's regulatory paradigm leads to systematic underinvestment in grid-edge resilience. The thesis offers ten concrete policy recommendations aimed at connecting service outcomes with utility profit incentives, widening the scope of cost-effectiveness analysis, and carving out space for third-party participation in resilience mitigation.
Citation Style
Chicago (Notes and Bibliography)
Recommended Citation
Henderson, Elias, "Beyond the meter: Frameworks for evaluating the broad spectrum of microgrid benefits" (2026). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2603.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2603